


The Secret’s Out

by wematch



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Domestic, Fake Dating, Fluff, Gala Event, M/M, Post-Canon, Professional Exy (All For The Game), Social Media, Twitter, but not really, of sorts, pro exy, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:06:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22886020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wematch/pseuds/wematch
Summary: Andrew’s team just won the Championship and now he has to attend the gala with a plus one. And to everyone’s surprise he shows up with Neil at his side.
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 26
Kudos: 722





	The Secret’s Out

**Author's Note:**

> A huge thank you for the beta to @tntwme who was kind enough to come to my rescue when I asked for help on tumblr, all your feedback made all the difference!

A few days after Andrew's team won the championship, their coach asks to see the whole team in the stadium. Once everyone sits down in their lounge area, he begins to congratulate the team once more for their victory and then he begins to talk about the gala that will take place Saturday night. He warns them to be on their best behaviour because investors and board members will be attending as well as a few reporters that will cover the event. He continues to speak but at that point Andrew stops listening. He would much rather stay at home than have to go to this stupid thing. When his coach dismisses them his teammates continue to talk about it as they slowly begin to exit.

Andrew gets up to leave and is annoyed when Kayla and Malory stop to chat near the entrance with a few others, half blocking the exit for those that want to leave. Steve stops by his side, waiting for the exit to clear out.

"Who are you going to bring with you?" He asks. Andrew looks to the side at him and merely stares. Steve continues, "You know you have to bring someone, right?" 

Steve’s one of the few members of Andrew’s team that he tolerates, but when he begins to talk about anything remotely related to Exy he reminds him of Kevin with all his pestering and the only thing he wants to do is smash his racket on his head to shut him up. But he knows that he is right. He needs a date for this stupid thing, unless coach Lavin tells him otherwise. It was a long shot, but Andrew figures he can try.

He moves past his teammates near the entrance and walks the hallway to Lavin’s office. The door is open so he rests against the doorframe until his coach looks up from the computer. "Let me guess, you don't want to go to the gala." He pauses and when Andrew doesn't respond he continues, "Neither do I. But does it look like I have a choice? No. So neither do you.”

"In that case, can I go alone?"

His coach removes his glasses and starts cleaning them. "Don't ask me why this is a rule. It’s a stupid rule.” He puts the glasses back on. “But no, you need a date. And if you don't have anyone to bring, our PR team can find someone to accompany you."

At that moment, Andrew closes his hands into fists to try and control himself. Most days he doesn’t mind his coach. That’s why he signed the contract for another season just a few days ago, but right now he doesn’t want to look at him anymore. He won’t be forced to go with someone he doesn’t know, contract be damned. “I’ll find someone,” he tells the man and walks out the door towards the parking lot.

Later, when he’s in bed he thinks about asking Renee to come with him. He knows that she wouldn’t mind it. But he ends up calling Neil instead. “Can you come here this weekend?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“I need you to bring a suit.”

“Okay?” Neil says unsure. Andrew can imagine him running his hand over his hair at that moment, trying to figure out what’s on Andrew’s mind. “What for?” Neil asks him.

“I need you to be my date for that stupid gala that I have to attend.”

There’s a pause. “Are you serious?” 

Andrew takes a deep breath.“Will you do it, or not?”

“You are serious.” After another pause, Neil adds, “Yes, of course I’ll do it.”

***

They arrive late at the party, trying to avoid having to be stuck near the reporters for too long. And it works, everyone is already inside when they arrive so they have a clear path to walk. All eyes turn to them as they walk in but they both focus on walking towards the doors. The journalists start taking pictures and calling their names, and Andrew feels like he can’t breathe until they walk inside and the doors close behind them. Neil grabs his hand and squeezes it so Andrew glances at him by his side. He looks stunning in his suit, and Andrew wants nothing more than to shove him into a corner and kiss that stupid mouth of his.

“Come on,” he says, “let’s get this over with.”

They begin to walk inside and it doesn’t take long for his coach to stop in front of them. “What’s going on here?” Lavin asks, eyes fixed on Neil.

“Is there a problem?” Andrew interjects.

“Am I supposed to believe that you brought him as your date?” His coach asks glancing in Andrew’s direction. Then he glances at their joined hands and looks between the two of them for a moment. “If you didn’t want to talk to the media you picked the worst date, you know that right?” Andrew just stares at the man until the other sighs. “I don’t care what kind of deal this is, just behave.” Then he turns to Neil. “Nice to meet you, Josten,” and walks away from them.

“Your coach seems nice,” Neil comments while they both stare at Lavin’s back as he walks away.

“If you say so.”

“Reminds me of Coach Wymack.”

Andrew hums and they go find their designated seats. All his teammates turn to stare at them when they enter the room and some begin to whisper. He feels Neil tense by his side for a moment which is expected in a room full of strangers, but Andrew’s not concerned about his teammates so he tugs on Neil’s hand to keep him moving.

Jaime, who is sitting in front of Neil starts to speak. “Hey Josten, saw your game last week, sweet goal you did right in the last few seconds!”

“Thanks,” Neil answers. A few others start to talk to Neil about Exy and Andrew zones out, not really bothering to follow the conversation. Neil’s leg is pressed against his and it helps to distract him until the food comes.

Later, when they’re supposed to mingle around the room Andrew stops against a wall and watches everyone else. He keeps coming back to Neil’s back though, as if he was a beacon.

He soon becomes annoyed when he notices one of his teammates watching him. He looks Steve in the eye until he looks away. Then, Andrew returns to look at Neil’s back. Still there, still chatting about Exy safe in the same spot. Good, Andrew thinks. He better not make him run after him in these stupid shoes. It’s been a few years since Neil was kidnapped but Andrew still remembers the sinking feeling when he thought Neil was gone. 

Andrew’s distracted when he notices out of the corner of his eye that Steve is walking his way. He decides not to acknowledge him. He’ll go away soon enough that way, but Steve stops at his side leaning against the wall and follows his gaze to where Neil currently is. Andrew won’t ask what he wants. He has seen the curious looks between his teammates through the whole night, it’s pretty obvious that they want to know what’s going on between him and Neil and he supposes that they might have sent Steve since he’s the only one that Andrew has said more than a few words to since he joined the team.

Minutes pass and Steve sighs. “Look man, I just need to ask ok? And I know that you’ll probably not answer,” he pauses, “is this a PR move? Because of all the shit with the media?”

“You could say that,” Andrew says without taking his eyes off Neil, who is still talking to Jaime and a few others.

“Whatever you need to do tonight, just know that the media is about to enter, so If you’re really supposed to be his date just pretend not to hate the guy for the next hour or so,” with that he gives him a sympathetic smile.

“That’s impossible,” he tells Steve and walks away towards Neil.

He stops near him but doesn’t say a word. Neil continues talking to his teammates until Andrew just says “auf der linken Seite.” Neil tenses and casually looks in the direction of the doors to his left where a few reporters are now entering. He notices his teammates looking curious between them but wisely none asks what Andrew had just told Neil.

However, It doesn’t take long for the reporters to spot Neil in the room and come to him. Neil grabs his hand. They don’t do it often, not around other people at least. Neil has a thing for his hands when they’re alone, he likes to trace imaginary lines around his fingers and hold them close to his chest at night, and Andrew won’t say it out loud but he likes the connection to Neil, to know he’s right beside him without having to look to make sure. 

He squeezes his hand and slightly pulls him closer to him. He hasn’t told Neil what was his plan for inviting him here today but he’s sure that Neil must have an idea. Two reporters stop in front of them with their cameras behind. Andrew can hear the moment one of them realizes they are holding hands and asks his cameraman to focus his camera on it. He sees Neil roll his eyes beside him and squeezes his hand again. 

“Neil, what brings you to the--” the first one begins to ask.

“Is this a confirmation that the two of you are dating?” the second one cuts in.

“Isn’t it clear enough?” Neil retorts. Andrew lets him do the talking and tenses when more reporters come in their direction. 

“Well, yes but--” 

“Then, there’s your answer.” Neil cuts in and steps closer to Andrew, they’re getting cornered by the reporters and he knows they need to move now before it gets out of hand. He puts a hand on Neil’s neck to ground him, like he has done countless times before and pulls him sideways towards the security already moving in their direction. They quickly make a barrier between them and the journalists and order them to step away. They were never supposed to be interviewing the same subject all at once. 

He pulls Neil into the bathroom and after checking that no one else is in there he comes back to where Neil stopped, leaning against the door to block it for everyone else.

“I’m okay,” Neil says, without meeting his eyes.

Andrew steps towards him, feeling pissed. That shouldn’t have happened, and that wasn’t what he had in mind for tonight at all. He puts a hand on Neil’s neck again and tilts his head slightly down until their foreheads are touching. Neither says anything for a moment, and Andrew can feel Neil relax beside him. “Let's get out of here,” he tells him and steps back.

“Too bad we didn’t settle this today,” Neil says with a weak grin before he steps away from the door and opens it. 

“There’s always tomorrow.” Andrew comments. They step outside and begin to walk towards the exit. He sees his coach starting to walk in their direction with a grim expression so Andrew brings two fingers to his forehead in a mocking salute that brings him to a stop.

Andrew is not surprised to find two reporters near the doors and continues to walk calmly in their direction. They come to a stop where the reporters are standing and he spares a glance at Neil. He’s tense but he’s looking at the reporters as if they were merely an obstacle between him and the goal that he needs to pass. If he had been on the meds he would have laughed at the uneasy looks the reporters share between them, but as it is, he only stares at the reporters with his blank expression and waits.

It takes them a moment, but then the woman steps towards them. “For over a year you’ve been fighting on social media and during games, so it’s a bit surprising that you came together today. Care to comment?” she asks, shoving a mic into Neil’s face.

Andrew closes his fists in an attempt to control himself. This, their so called rivalry that everyone has been talking about had started when Andrew joined his pro team two years ago. And at first he didn’t care much about it, it was a way to mess with Neil when he was still in college. But now he was just done with the whole thing. All the questions, the theories, the opinions of everyone on the matter was putting them on edge, and it pissed off Andrew to no end. People just needed to leave them the fuck alone.

“What changed?” The other reporter insists.

“Nothing changed,” Neil replies and bats the mic out of his face. Andrew takes that as a cue to pull Neil away from everyone and he doesn’t let go of Neil until they reach the car.

***

As soon as he arrives at practice on Monday morning his coach calls him to his office. Andrew follows him and sits down on the chair in front of his desk. He watches the man as he sits down and turns his pc on.

“Look, I don’t know what you were trying to do on Saturday,” Lavin takes a long sigh and turns his monitor towards Andrew. “But the media didn’t exactly buy it, okay? There’s an even bigger mess on social media because of you two now.”

He rolls his eyes at the title that has a picture of him and Neil leaving the party under it. _Are the long time rivals really together? Keep scrolling to read our theories!_

“There’s so much shit between the two of you for everyone to just think this was actually real.” He joins his hands and leans forward. “What was your idea with this?”

“It didn’t go as planned,” Andrew concedes. He considers for a second about telling him about Neil but he’s not in a good mood and just wants this day to be over. Andrew gets up. “I’ll take care of it,” he says.

“Andrew, I don’t know how you convinced Josten to do this. But maybe just try to figure something out with the guy, if not we can make the PR team figure something--”

“I said that I'll take care of it,” he interrupts. He turns his back to the man and walks out of his office. He definitely doesn’t need help from the PR team, they’re always trying to give him advice on what to say and what not to do. If he wanted to listen to that shit he could just call Kevin.

***

That afternoon when Andrew gets home, Neil is still there. He had taken the day off and was going back to his team the next morning. Andrew takes his phone from his pocket and contemplates his options. He could let this continue as it is, but he’s tired. They’re both tired from it. He scrolls down his contact list and calls Nicky. He puts the phone on speaker and it rings three times before Nicky picks it up. “I need you to do something for me.”

“Well, hello to you too.” Nicky sighs, “Is this because of the whole shit between you and Neil?”

“Yes,” Andrew answers, “I want it to be over,” he explains.

“Okay, what do you need me for?”

Andrew takes a deep breath. The easiest way to end this is for everyone to believe they’ve been together this whole time. “Can you post a few pictures of us or videos that can show that we’ve been together?”

“I don’t have--”

“And don’t say you don’t have anything because I know you do,” Andrew interrupts him.

“Fine I have a few things...Oh! I can’t believe you’re letting me post this! Wait until I tell Erik!” Nicky starts half shouting on the phone and Andrew closes his eyes regretting his decision already.

Neil, hearing Nicky’s voice, walks out of the bedroom and leans against the doorframe. “Allison has some videos too,” he adds loudly so that Nicky can hear him.

“Oh, hey Neil! You staying the week with your not so real boyfriend?” Nicky says and starts laughing.

Neil rolls his eyes. “It’s not funny, Nicky.”

“You have to admit that it is,” Nicky takes a deep breath to calm down.“Hold on a second, I’m going to add Allison to the call so that we can discuss how we’re going to do this.”

And with that, Andrew gets up from the couch and throws the phone at Neil who catches it easily. Neil takes the phone off speaker, grabs his laptop and moves to the bed.

Later that night, they’re in bed when Neil shows him the video compilation that Nicky has made. There’s a lot more footage of him and Neil than he was expecting. He should feel pissed that people were capturing these moments without asking but he can’t. Not when he looks at the idiot lying in bed half on top of him, smiling stupidly at his phone because he’s watching them together. 

Andrew remembers every single one of those moments as if it was yesterday; them holding hands in front of Jake just to piss him off more after his fight with Neil; smoking together at Abby’s house after they won a game his last year on the team; Neil staring at where Andrew was standing and Kevin yelling at him to focus on the game and Andrew throwing a ball inches away from his face that made Neil laugh to everyone’s astonishment; Andrew falling asleep on Neil’s shoulder on the bus after an away game. Some pictures with other moments appear between the clips and then the video ends with a photo from Dan’s wedding last year. It had been taken when they were in the balcony, half hidden from everyone. Neil had wanted to catch some air so they went outside, and then Neil had asked Andrew to kiss him, so the picture must have been taken only a second before Andrew did it.

Neil plays the video a second time, occasionally pausing it to ask Andrew what had happened in that exact moment. Andrew answers him and when the video ends again Neil plays it once more and Andrew doesn’t mind. 

Neil shares the video on twitter before they go to bed. And as expected the media explodes.

The following day, Andrew is called in again by his coach when he gets to practice. He enters the office and sits down without saying a word. 

His coach puts down his coffee and clears his throat. “Well, now that everything is clear between you and Josten. I wanted to ask you something…” He pauses for a moment and rests his hands together on the table.“This conversation cannot leave this room for now, okay? But when I was considering you for this team, I studied the way you played in college and how you played with others and I noticed that you and Josten made one hell of a team, you had your own communication out there.” He pauses to take another sip of his coffee. “Anyway, this is to say that I’m now considering making a proposal for Josten to transfer to our team next season. I assume that that won’t be a problem?”

It takes Andrew completely by surprise. This was not what he was expecting when he was called here. A long moment passes until he says, “Bring him to the team.”

His coach smiles, seeming satisfied with his answer. “Okay, I’ll make him an offer.”

He considers calling Neil when he gets home and giving him a heads up. But ultimately he decides against it. He’ll wait for Neil to tell him the good news himself.

***

Translation: auf der linken Seite - On the left

**Author's Note:**

> (I have no clue how galas and fancy events work so excuse my lack of knowledge in that department)
> 
> Sometimes I'm just in the mood for some soft andreil, they deserve to be happy after everything they've been through!  
> You can find me on tumblr if you like @cosyblack and I hope you've enjoyed the fic!


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